Description

The National Scholarship Providers Association (NSPA) is seeking an experienced Senior Technology Advisor to provide strategic guidance and technical oversight for the design, development and implementation of the Apply Florida Common Scholarship Application, a unified common application system designed to streamline the scholarship application process for students and scholarship providers in Florida. The Apply Florida Common Scholarship Application project involves the development and implementation of a secure, cloud hosted system centered on a single, shared common application serving as the foundation for scholarship discovery, application submission, and provider management. This unified system enables students to complete one common application for all eligible scholarships while providing a secure management portal for scholarship providers.

The Technology Advisor will provide strategic technical guidance, systems-level oversight, and decision support for the project team throughout the project lifecycle, from early requirements definition and workflow design through technical evaluation, solution selection, and implementation oversight.  The Advisor will assess complex technical environments, provide clear and actionable technical direction, and ensure that architecture and design decisions consistently align with project goals, functional requirements, user needs, security standards, and industry best practices. 

The ideal candidate is an experienced technology professional with a strong background in enterprise level systems, cloud hosted architectures, API integrations, and modern application development, bringing broad experience across software platforms, systems integration, data flows, and workflow design. The candidate is a self-directed consultant who works effectively in virtual, cross functional team environments and has experience with scholarship management systems, student information systems, or similar data driven applications particularly in contexts involving sensitive data, regulatory compliance, and multiple stakeholder groups.

This is a highly collaborative consulting role requiring effective virtual collaboration with our team to deliver project outcomes. It does not involve direct project management or software development. The focus is on advisory support, guidance, design review, and expert consultation throughout the project lifecycle. 

This is a fully remote, 36-month contract position with an average time commitment of approximately 20 hours per month, subject to variation based on project phase and situational needs. This role requires participation in regularly scheduled virtual team meetings, as well as meetings with external developers and key stakeholders as needed.

Requirements

Technical Strategy and Oversight

• Provide guidance on technical strategy, problem solving expertise, and technical oversight across the project lifecycle.
• Evaluate technical processes and identify risks, resolve technical challenges, and recommend improvements for efficiency, scalability, and reliability.
• Review technical approaches proposed by vendors or team members and provide recommendations.
• Work closely with the project team to provide technical advice, assist in troubleshooting complex technical issues, and identifying root causes.
• Support project team by reviewing technical requirements, documentation, and implementation plans and providing recommendations.

System Architecture and Scalability

• Advise the project team on system architecture, security, scalability, and data management to support long term performance and adaptability.
• Provide expertise on data modeling, data governance, and management of both privileged and deidentified data.
• Provide guidance on privacy, security, and regulatory compliance (e.g., FERPA, ADA, data retention, public records).
• Provide expertise and guidance on the integration of AI driven features, including scholarship matching, form suggestions, and automated support tools.

Data Management and Integration

• Support the implementation of data validation, import/export capabilities, and reporting tools.
• Recommend problem solving approaches for real time data exchange and system interoperability.
  

Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement

• Translate complex technical concepts into actionable guidance for both technical and non technical stakeholders in a clear, concise manner.
• Participate in relevant team meetings and facilitate technical discussions to support informed decision making.
  

Procurement and Vendor Support

• Support the development of procurement instruments such as RFIs or RFPs, participate in proposal reviews, vendor engagement, and solution selection.
• Collaborate with vendors to translate requirements into effective, sustainable solutions.